On March 12, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s dismissal of a lawsuit against Cravath clients Crown Finance Foundation and Altimo Holdings & Investments Limited (and an unrelated defendant) alleging defamation and intentional interference with prospective contractual relations. Plaintiffs’ claims stemmed from an open letter and attachments sent by Altimo’s chairman to Telenor, a company with which Altimo and its affiliates were involved in multiple disputes. Plaintiffs alleged that the letter and attachments, disseminated to worldwide media and summarized in Russian Internet news articles, defamed them by implicating them in a negative public relations campaign spearheaded by Telenor against Altimo and its parent, Alfa Group. The district court dismissed the allegation for lack of personal jurisdiction and, in a non-precedential opinion, the Third Circuit affirmed, finding that the factual allegations in the complaint didn’t support the plaintiffs’ conclusory allegations that the defendants aimed their conduct at Pennsylvania.
The Cravath lawyers involved in this matter include partner Ronald S. Rolfe and associate Timothy K. Kline.